Cheap tricks

[Planeden]

Binder clips for sump cable management (clip them to the rim...and flip the arms toward the inside...run the cables up through the loop)

sounds great, but at the risk of another dumb question...are there plastic ones or do you not have to worry about rust because they are high enough out of the water and don't get splashed?

I use standard powdercoated black metal ones, I don't have a ton of sump splash so I am not worried about it...if you are worried...dip them in plastidip first

thanks again capt. i don't know enough yet to know what to worry about and what not to worry about, so i am just worried .

[Brooks]

Hydrogen Peroxide as an agent to remove Dino's! 1ml/10g of water, and they're gone!

[(Bio)³]

Thanks Mitch! Your always making it good around here.

FYI a simple hardware washer works great to spread silicone. Buy a value pack to get different sizes for the different sized areas you work on

[Bpb]

Made a cheap DIY "Julian's thing" the other day from stuff I had laying around. Cost nothing.

10 mL syringe.

2' length of airline tubing

1" length of hospital auction tubing

1.5' length of rigid airline tube.

I straightened the airline tube by warming it with water an putting kabob skewers through it and letting it cool. It stays straight enough.

Used super glue to join it with the flexible airline tubing using the little 1" suction tube. Like joining two PVC pipes. It was a perfect fit. Then the airline tube meets the syringe.

Now I can spot feed each lps coral without gettin my hands wet. Reaches all the way to the bottom of the tank.

Saved $40

[Niko's Reef]

_{I agree this post is great. We were looking for information on dipping coral for preventive measures that we will be using on our corals at the store and used this post for research.}

[+etannert]

Niko, check out the thread called "Rescue Corals" on Reef Central's LPS forum. There's a set of three dips that the OP of that thread uses on all incoming rescue LPS that seems to work like a charm.

Bpb, would you post pics please??

[ChaosFyre]

I don't think anyone has said this one yet, though maybe no one is as poor as me

porous landscaping rock, 10 cents per pound at your local rock/landscaping provider. There are a lot of varieties of rock to choose from. I got a couple neat flat rocks I used for shelves, and the rest I got with either large holes for caves or lots of tiny holes everywhere. I think this is great for beginners or for framework when aquascaping.

I started out with all liverock, and I am slowly replacing the landscaping rocks with oceanic rock.

[Drift Monkey]

Thanks Mitch! Your always making it good around here.

FYI a simple hardware washer works great to spread silicone. Buy a value pack to get different sizes for the different sized areas you work on

WIsh I woulda thought of that before resealing my baffles today. Stuck with silicone fingers now...

[ChaosFyre]

I thought of something else:

To minimize or completely eliminate hermit/snail predation (besides feeding algae wafers),

buy a couple $1 decorative basket of assorted shells from the dollar store. pick out the hermit crab / snail shells, rinse them, and drop them into your tank. You can do this every few months as the shells get buried in the substrate.

I have hermit crabs, and still have all my snails from day 1, and babies too now.

Edited May 29, 2013 by ChaosFyre

[+Mlaw]

I've thought about buying the dollar store shells in the past but am concerned that they may have been treated with various chemicals/cleaners that I don't want to introduce to the tank. Have you had any problems along those lines?

[ChaosFyre]

I've thought about buying the dollar store shells in the past but am concerned that they may have been treated with various chemicals/cleaners that I don't want to introduce to the tank. Have you had any problems along those lines?

No problems. I did rinse them pretty well before I put them in. They were only decorative so I don't see any reason why they would have treated them either, though.

[ChaosFyre]

Here's another trick:

If you have a magnet cleaner that doesn't float, get one of those smaller mag-floats that does, and attach the smaller mag float to the back of the larger magnet cleaner. It will stick on its own because its also magnetized, and its strong enough to pull the larger magnet cleaner to the surface if you happen to drop it.

[Planeden]

i hesitate to post here, because as a noob this may not be as good as i think it is. but, instead of getting a frag kit i odered a 24 U.S. Military Field Medic Instrument Kit. It has two scalples, a few types of tweezers, some locking pliers, and more. i am not confident that the scissors will cut bony corals, so that may need to be added seperately. but it seems to have worked out well for me so far and costs less than $15.

[victoly]

yeah, those arent gonna cut your SPS proficiently. Bone cutters are the bees knees.

[(Bio)³]

i hesitate to post here, because as a noob this may not be as good as i think it is. but, instead of getting a frag kit i odered a 24 U.S. Military Field Medic Instrument Kit. It has two scalples, a few types of tweezers, some locking pliers, and more. i am not confident that the scissors will cut bony corals, so that may need to be added seperately. but it seems to have worked out well for me so far and costs less than $15.

If your a t a gun show, you can build your own algae cleaning kit and fragging kit for about $20. But since you already have that kit you could pick up a pair of bone cutters ~5 off the tables in gun shows and they work great.

[+o0zarkawater]

Found a concentrated Vinegar on sale at my HEB.

http://www.amazon.com/Surig-Essig-Essence-Vinegar-ounce/dp/B006D9692A/ref=pd_sim_sbs_gro_3

25%! (Normal vinegar is 5-9%)

Normally sells at HEB for like 3.50, on clearance for .99/bottle.

Works very very well for cleaning those powerheads and pumps.

[dshel1217]

Use a dry erase marker to mark the number of frags on your frag rack. Helps do a quick inventory in case one has fallen.

[Neon Reefer]

A dining room chair, a bag of microwave popcorn and a bottle of soda in a light dimmed room with some niice tunes on a Friday night.. About $1.00. Tank night is usually better than a movie. For another buck, an extra chair and a good friend you can make it date night.

[+brian.srock]

$1 for a good friend for a night? Wow where do you shop? Mine usually run $100 for an hour.

[jestep]

$1 for a good friend for a night? Wow where do you shop? Mine usually run $100 for an hour.

I don't think that's what the topic was referring to ...

[+brian.srock]

My bad. Wrong cheap tricks.

[Scutterborn]

Lol.

-Ben-

[Scutterborn]

To add my own cheap trick.

I like to use the $6 bar clamps from harbor freight to hold my tank together.

-Ben-

[Sascha D.]

To add my own cheap trick.

I like to use the $6 bar clamps from harbor freight to hold my tank together.

-Ben-

LOL! Don't try this at home kids!

[Scutterborn]

To add my own cheap trick.

I like to use the $6 bar clamps from harbor freight to hold my tank together.

-Ben-

LOL! Don't try this at home kids!

"It's ok. I'm a professional".

Besides, it's only 185 gallons. Should be fine.

-Ben-